A Missed Traffic Light
by coolhacker1025
Summary: This story is a continuation of the story One Traffic Light by witowsmp. What if Harry got to the Platform early in book 1? Rated for future chapters. Slightly AU/ Some characters might be OOC. Harry/Hermione/Ginny
1. Getting to Hogwarts

_The prologue is written by witowsmp and edited by me. All other chapters are written by me. As always, the only the unique story elements belong to me. Harry Potter and all associated trademarks are the property of J. K. Rowling, et al. _

"The light is red, Vernon!" shouted Petunia Dursley. Her husband had just run a red light on the way to King's Cross Station in London, and had just barely avoided a collision with another vehicle. "I just want the freak gone! I don't want to be dead!"

Dudley squealed as Vernon missed another car, causing vehicles around them to blow their horns.

"I'm sorry, Petunia," said Vernon. "It's just I want to get rid of the freak, and I want to be rid of that freaky tail that Giant Freak gave our poor Dudley."

A couple of minutes later, they were at the Station. Vernon parked the car and put Harry's things onto a trolley and wheeled it into the station. Harry wondered what had Vernon in such a good mood until they got to Platforms 9 and 10. Vernon then got a nasty grin on his face.

"There you go, boy. Platform 9 and platform 10. Your platform should be in the middle, but they don't seem to have built it yet!" said Vernon. Vernon was right. There was a plastic 9 over one platform and a 10 over the one next to it. "Have a good term!" Vernon said very nastily.

Just then, Harry noticed a boy with a toad. This would normally seem unusual to Harry, but he then remembered the list of acceptable pets at Hogwarts. The boy was with an older woman, perhaps his grandmother, who looked very stern.

"H-h-how do you know I won't just run into the wall, Gran?" asked the boy, appearing terrified.

"Shhh," his grandmother replied, "We don't want to be overheard." She then pulled the boy to an empty corner and Harry sneaked closer to hear the explanation, doing his best not to be noticed. He was successful, because the woman told her grandson, "Neville, it's simple. You just run toward the wall between Platforms nine and ten and you'll find yourself right in front of the train. Now, go on."

The boy obeyed, looking extremely frightened as he ran toward the wall, and disappeared. The older woman than walked through and Harry followed. As he went through the barrier, he noticed the clock said that it was 10:33. _The missed traffic light must have saved us a couple minutes, _thought Harry. He didn't see the group of redheads that were just arriving.

A rather large group of Gingers were approaching the platform. There were a large female, a boy wearing a badge on his outfit, a set of twins, another boy (obviously the youngest male), and a girl.

"Packed with Muggles, of course," said the woman, whose name was Molly Weasley. She had a slightly glazed look as she was announcing this as loud as she could, as Dumbledore had told her that Harry Potter would need help getting onto the Platform. He described the lad as having raven-coloured hair, wearing oversize clothes and taped glasses. Why the boy didn't simply use a _Reparo _charm on the things was beyond Molly's comprehension. Then again, Muggles apparently had to make due with other means.

"What's the platform number?" asked Molly.

"Nine and three-quarters, mum" said the girl, Ginny. "Can't I go?"

"You're not old enough to go, dear," said her mum. Molly looked around hoping to catch a glimpse of the Potter Boy. "Platform 9 ¾!" she said, hoping that she hadn't said that last part too loudly.

Unfortunately for her, she had, as a person wearing the strangest assortment of clothes (pink swimming trunks, a black jumper with a bow-tie tied sideways over the collar, and a mink coat) came over to her. It was obvious that this was a wizard trying to look like a Muggle, failing spectacularly.

"Ma'am, I'm going to have to give you a ticket for a Breach of the International Statute of Secrecy." said the oddly dressed man. "My name is Auror Dawlish."

At this, Molly told her children, except for Ginny, to go to the platform. This displeased the Auror, who threatened her with a month in Azkaban. Now that Molly was giving her full attention to the Auror, she didn't notice what her youngest daughter was doing.

Ginevra Molly Weasley was the youngest Weasley at ten years old. She was very much looking forward to going to Hogwarts, and now was her chance. Her mum wasn't looking in her direction, so Ginny slipped through the barrier and onto the platform, just like she'd always done when they'd come on 1 September to drop of the school-aged children and in June to pick them up.

She glanced around for her brothers, but couldn't see any except for the twins, Fred and George, who were busy with their friend Lee Jordan, who appeared to be showing them a large spider. "I'll bet that would make Ron wet his pants," she whispered to herself as she quickly made her way to the train and boarded it for the first time.

Her first instinct was to sit in one of the compartments and try to blend in, but then she remembered how her brother Percy had bragged that as a prefect, he'd be one of the people patrolling the train. He may be a pompous fool, but he would recognize his own sister and get her in trouble. Therefore, she went about finding a place to hide.

With that in mind, she quickly made her way toward the back of the train. She speedily ducked down when she spotted her brother Ron talking animatedly to a boy with black hair and glasses, sneaking past that compartment and, thankfully, not being spotted. Just a few compartments down, she spotted one that appeared empty except for a few trunks on the racks above with an old black blanket beside them. She figured that someone had already claimed the compartment and would be returning any second. With some difficulty, she climbed up on top of the luggage rack as the train whistle blew, grabbed the blanket, wrapped it around herself, and did her best to make it look like she wasn't hiding there.

The door to her compartment opened at virtually the same moment the train started moving. She gripped the rack from under the blanket to avoid rolling down as she listened to the boys who were sitting down. She was sweating by the second under the thick covering.

"We're serious, Lee," laughed a voice that was very familiar to Ginny.

"Our mum's probably been arrested by now," said the same voice from a different location. Ginny silently groaned as she realized that, of all the compartments she could've picked, she ended up choosing the one where Fred and George were sitting.

"And she calls us troublemakers!" both twins declared before they, along with Lee, burst out laughing. Suddenly, Ginny heard a small metallic clang.

"Crap!" shouted Lee Jordan. "I was laughing so hard I dropped my tarantula's cage. It's getting out! Catch it!"

Ginny held the blanket tight around her and closed her eyes, hoping the loose spider wouldn't find her. She listened to various expressions of frustration over failing to catch the loose pet.

"It's on the luggage rack," exclaimed Lee. "On top of the blanket!"

_Oh, no! _Ginny thought. _I think I do feel something crawling on me! It's a lot bigger than a normal spider!_

While she did not have a specific phobia regarding arachnids, like her brother, given the circumstances, nobody could criticize her for letting out a large scream while rolling around in an effort to knock the spider off her blanket.

This caused the Twins to look up at her. "Ginny?" they exclaimed in their creepy twin stereo voice. "What are you doing here?"

"What in Merlin's name do you think I'm doing here?" she asked as her brothers started to laugh uncontrollably. "It isn't all that funny!" she exclaimed angrily.

"Oh, yes it is," said a twin.

"It's wonderful!" said the other.

"We are so proud of our little Sis!" they said together. "All we have to do is make sure you're able to stay." The twins stared at each other, as if they were thinking about something. Their friend, Lee Jordan, interrupted them.

"Won't they just be sent home?" he asked.

"Not unless they want Ginny to never go to Hogwarts!" the twins shouted triumphantly.

"Rule 56-A states that 'Once a child is sorted, they are officially a student'" chorused the Twins. "And rule 63-C says, 'Once a student has been removed from Hogwarts, they cannot return'."

"How do you know that?" asked Ginny. She knew that her brothers weren't exactly the most studious.

"We memorised all the Rules first year," said a twin. "We hope to break them all" said the other. The twins then started brainstorming ways to smuggle Ginny past Percy, their brother. Ginny wouldn't put it past Percy to turn their mum in if he thought she had done something wrong. The only reason he hadn't with his father was that the majority of his father's junk was at least technically legal.

\\\/

The twins got their friend Angelina to lend them a robe, and told her the story.

"You'd better be doing exactly as you say," said the girl. "I'd better not find that you're using it for some perverted purpose. And I want them back clean!"

By the time they got to Hogsmeade, Ginny was wearing Angelina's robe and a subtle Notice-Me-Not charm, so that nobody would recognise her at the Sorting until after she'd already been sorted. The twins also had a wonderful idea for a distraction during the Sorting.

\\\/

Once she got off the train, Ginny saw one of the largest men she'd ever seen. She knew, of course, that the man was called 'Hagrid' and that he was the Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts.

"First years!" called Hagrid. He lead the first-years to the dock. Ginny stayed quite as far away from Ron as she could. "No more than four to a boat," said the giant.

Fortunately, the boat Ginny got on didn't have anyone on that she immediately recognised. At one of the names; however, she did.

"Hi," said one of the other girls in the boat. The girl was also a ginger. "I'm Susan Bones."

"I'm Ginny" she replied. "Does your Aunt work in Law Enforcement?"

"Yep," replied Susan. "You know, I've been looking forward to this my entire life."

The other girls and Ginny agreed with that statement. One of the girls was named Lavender Brown and the other was Hermione Granger.

At that moment, the boat turned and they were all treated to an incredible sight. Hogwarts castle looked absolutely glorious from this vantage point.

"Wow," said Ginny, not having to fake her awe. The other girls stayed silent as well, absorbing the view in front of them.

When they arrived at the shore, Hagrid knocked on the door and introduced them to Professor McGonagall, who gave them a speech about the four houses that they would be sorted into, before leaving them alone outside the Great Hall.

"So," Ginny asked her companions, while keeping her voice down so Ron, who was still with the black-haired boy he'd sat with on the train, wouldn't recognize it, "which house do you want to be in?"

"My family's all been Hufflepuffs," declared Susan, "so that's the house I want to go in. I know what most people say about that house, but I for one think loyalty and hard work are quite important."

"I'm hoping for Ravenclaw," said Lisa, before shyly adding, "I've always been a bit of a bookworm."

"I don't care which house I get in," announced Lavender with a grin, "as long as there are cute boys in it." This comment earned her some giggles from the other girls.

At about that moment, they were interrupted by a few ghosts, who, after realizing that the gathered children were new students, welcomed them to Hogwarts just before Professor McGonagall returned to escort them inside.

\\\/

"This will be the year that we finally break the Marauder's Record!" said the twins at the Gryffindor table. "We will get detentions before the feast even starts! I've heard that the Marauder's recorded a detention at 1 minute 43 into the Opening Feast."

They watched the first-years enter the Great Hall and drew their wands, pointing at the Slytherin table from under the Gryffindor table.

The first person to be Sorted that year was a girl named "ABBOT, HANNAH" who went to Hufflepuff, followed by Susan Bones. The Sorting went without interruption until the Sorting of the new celebrity: Harry Potter. Although the Hat took a little longer with Harry, it eventually declared him to be a "GRYFFINDOR!"

This was Fred and George's cue. While everyone was watching the Golden Boy make his way to the Gryffindor table, the Twins cast their spells. The first turned the Slytherin table's colour to hot pink, and then a second caused it to start dancing. The professors looked to see who the culprit was, and then all went to the Gryffindor table to yell at the Twins. In the confusion, nobody noticed what Ginny Weasley was doing.

The moment the Professors left the table, Ginny ran for the stool with the hat and put it on her head.

_Well, what do we have here?_ asked the Hat. _You seem to be a bit young to start at Hogwarts, my dear._

_Don't tell, please,_ Ginny pleaded with the Hat in her mind.

_So you sneaked onto the train,_ remarked the Hat with a chuckle in his voice. _A very Slytherin thing to do._

_I'd like to think of it as Gryffindor courage,_ thought Ginny urgently. What was the point of ending up at Hogwarts if she was in Slytherin. And even better, Harry Potter was a Gryffindor.

_Or it could be that you were so excited about learning like a Ravenclaw that you decided to come early,_ mused the Hat to Ginny's displeasure. _I should really tell the Headmaster that you're here, but it's not my concern if they don't _count_ the students they have me Sort. I've made up my decision. Based on what I've looked at in your mind, it better be_

The hat paused for a moment here as Ginny started to sweat. "GRYFFINDOR!" shouted the hat. Everyone looked around to see Ginny Weasley sitting down at the Gryffindor table right next to a black-haired boy she saw on the train. She looked at the boy and saw that he was Harry Potter.

"I'm Ginny," she said to the boy, extending her hand. Ron had a look of disgust on his face as he waited in the line of unsorted students.

"I'm Harry," said Harry Potter. "It's nice to meet you."

With a couple of final words as the twins received detentions for their charms, all of the spells on the Slytherin table ceased, right before two ginger-haired adults came through the doors of the Great Hall. One was Molly Weasley, and the other was Arthur Weasley.

After Ginny had slipped onto the Platform, the Auror had decided that Molly needed to be arrested, and had taken her to a holding cell, where she spent most of the day. He had ignored all her pleas to check on her daughter, as she wasn't showing the proper respect.

When they finally released her hours later, she went to Arthur's office at the Ministry, and they started to look for their daughter. They went to King's Cross and then to the Burrow (in case she used the Public Floo to get home). On a whim, they decided to come to Hogwarts, just in case she actually managed to get on the train.

What Molly Weasley saw was her daughter sitting at the Gryffindor table with a very smug look on her face.

"GINEVRA MOLLY WEASLEY!" shouted Molly. "You are in so much trouble!" She shouted this in the same voice that she used for her Howlers.


	2. Staying at Hogwarts

One Missed Traffic Light

a continuation of "One Traffic Light" by witowsmp

This story is not written with that writers permission, nor the permission of J.K. Rowling, Scholastic, Bloomsbury, etc. who own the rights to _Harry Potter. _"One Traffic Light" by witowsmp may be found at s/7058158/1/One-Traffic-Light on fanfiction. (After / paste/type the s etc)

Chapter 2, Staying at Hogwarts

"GINEVRA MOLLY WEASLEY!" _shout the Weasley matriarch. "You are in so much trouble!"_

"Perhaps after we are finished with the feast, we should go to my office." suggested Dumbledore.

Professor Snape was a lot less patient. "Weasley should be expelled, and her twin brothers too! If they were in Slytherin, they all would be on the train home tonight. This is a clear violation of The Charter."

"Severus," said Dumbledore in what he hoped was a calming voice. "Might I remind you that you have no power to expel students? Or do I have to remind you for the 943d time? We will convene in my office after the Feast is over"

Dumbledore did a spell, and the table expanded. This was strange, because it remained the exact same distance from the walls as before. "Molly, take Sybill's seat, as she hasn't come. Arthur, take that seat."

"Yes, Professor," said the couple. It was almost as if they were students again.

\\\/

"What was that about?" asked Harry at the Gryffindor table. Hermione was closely listening in.

"I'm not supposed to be here," said Ginny. "My brother is eleven, I'm ten. Ten-year-olds aren't meant to go to Hogwarts."

They talked for a couple more minutes, until the Feast was over. Dumbledore sent everyone but the three Weasley troublemakers to their dormitories. Harry left rather reluctantly.

"Come with me," the Headmaster said as he led the group to his office.

\\\/

"Ginny, you are too young, you don't have a wand or books, so you cannot," started Dumbledore before being interrupted by the Twins.

"Sir, I believe that you've got that wrong," said Twin A.

"Rule 56A states that Ginny is now a student," said B.

"Due to the fact that she has been Sorted," said A.

"Yes, but she is not eligible!" said Dumbledore.

"_Au contraire, mon capitan__!" _said the twins in unison. "At this point 63C comes into play."

"63. C." stated McGonagall, who'd followed the group to the headmaster's office. "I'm not sure that I am familiar with that one."

"It's not one used much any more" said A.

"It involves being withdrawn from Hogwarts." said B.

"I quote, 'Regulation 63C: Once a child has become a student, they must not be withdrawn from Hogwarts for any reason. If this occurs, they will not be allowed to ever come back.'" said A.

"It says in the list of Definitions that 'withdrawn' means 'removal of the student's name from the Rolls'. Therefore, she can't leave" said B.

"But she's not on the rolls!" exclaimed Dumbledore in frustration at the Weasley twins.

"When did you last check?" they asked in unison.

Dumbledore took out the Book of Students. He'd checked this morning, and Ms Weasley's name had not been in it for this year. He flipped to the Incoming Class of '91. He saw a name at the very end of the list that he hoped he wouldn't see. "I'm sorry, Molly, but she's on the List. If you remove her from the school now, it would be the same as my expelling her."

"Ginny, why did you do this?" asked her father. "You realise that we barely have enough money to send Ron to Hogwarts."

"It was going to be fun!" said Ginny. "I took my chance to go to Hogwarts, and there's nothing you can do about it. Also, at dinner, Harry said that he'd help pay for my things."

"Harry?" asked Molly.

"Harry Who?" asked Arthur.

"Harry Potter, of course." replied Ginny. Sometimes her parents were so thick. "You know the boy I was sitting next to with the black hair, the glasses, and the dreamy eyes?"

"He looks like a good boy, Ginny," said Molly. "Except that he's way to thin. Albus, you order the kitchen elves to make sure that boy is properly fed."

She was starting to get worked up again.

Ginny interrupted her before her mother could get a full head of steam. "Harry and I talked over dinner, and he's offered to help pay for my school supplies. He's so nice mum." She put on a look that she knew her father wouldn't be able to resist.

"I'll have Minerva make sure that Mr Potter did make that promise," said Dumbledore. "Otherwise, as my only other option would be to expel her, she can use one of the scholarships for her things. I'll have Minerva escort Harry and Ginny to Diagon Alley. I think that I'll have to take a couple of points."

Snape looked smug. Ginny had a sound of disbelief.

"I will take ten points from Gryffindor for sneaking onto the train and fifteen points each from your brothers for the distraction. In addition, I will add ten points to your brothers and Mr Potter for helping you achieve your dream to be a Gryffindor, and ten points for having the courage to talk the Hat into Sorting you."

Snape seemed to have caught on to what the Headmaster was doing. "You're letting them free?! I want to see them all expelled and arrested! The table nearly killed my students!"

"It was only a dancing table," said Arthur. "Lighten up." Molly pounded her husband's arm, so he turned to the Twins. "That was very wrong of you, indeed."

The twins were having trouble not laughing at this exchange, and everyone turned to leave. "Messrs Weasley, Ms Weasley, I believe that the password for your common room is _Caput Draconis_. Good night." said Dumbledore in his usual manner.

A/N: Think _Night Court _on the _Illegal Detonation of Poultry _episode featuring Brent Spiner as a Yugoslavian recidivist for McGonagall saying "63. C"

in that skit, there is a dialogue between the judge and a bailiff.

"_They were picked up on a 509-B, sir." _Bailiff

"_509." _

"_uh-huh"_

"_B?"_

"_Yeah,"_

"_I don't believe I'm familiar with that one"_

_Lawyer: "It's not used in Manhattan much...It involves the illegal detonation of [beat] Poultry"_


	3. Shopping for Hogwarts

One Missed Traffic Light

a continuation of "One Traffic Light" by witowsmp

This story is not written with that writers permission, nor the permission of J.K. Rowling, Scholastic, Bloomsbury, etc. who own the rights to _Harry Potter. _"One Traffic Light" by witowsmp may be found at s/7058158/1/One-Traffic-Light on fanfiction. (After / paste/type the s etc)

Chapter 3, Shopping for Hogwarts

When Ginny got to the Common Room, she headed over to where Hermione was sitting, while McGonagall went over to Harry to check that he had indeed made the offer to help Ms Weasley. Ron was already trying to beat someone at chess.

"So are you staying?" asked Hermione.

"My brothers quoted rules 56C and 64A or something," replied Ginny. A look of realisation appeared on Hermione's face.

"Of course!" she exclaimed. "It's actually 56A and 64C, if my memory serves correct, and it usually does. The two rules used in conjunction with each other, would keep you at Hogwarts. How would your brothers know, though? From what your Prefect brother was saying, they are a bunch of troublemakers."

"I think that they figure, 'Got to know them in order to break them.' They are trying to break every single school rule at least once. Also, Percy the Prefect wouldn't know fun if it bit him on the ass!" She said the last word quietly, and in a tone that showed she was surprised that she said it.

Immediately, Hermione admonished, "Ginny, language!" Before continuing on, "Now, what about your situation? You don't have books, clothes, a wand?"

"Professor McGonagall is taking Harry and me to Diagon Alley in the morning." "That should be 'Harry and I'." corrected Hermione. "Why is Harry going with you?"

"Because my family's not well off, so Harry is financing the trip," replied Ginny. "One of the times that you were talking to the other students, Harry and I were talking, and I don't think that he's had the best family life before Hogwarts."

"Just because they're Muggles..."

"He implied that they didn't treat him well at all," said Ginny. "That, of course, would completely contradict the storybooks."

"He's in children's books in this world?"

"Yeah, _Harry Potter and the Fire-Breathing Dragon, Harry Potter and the Basilisk, Harry Potter __and the Mad Muggle__, Harry Potter __and the __Wizard's __Tournament, Harry Potter and the Nice Phoenix, Harry Potter and the Prince of Darkness, Harry Potter and the Unknowable Artefacts of Doom__._ I had the whole set at one point. Just from a couple of minutes talking to him, I could tell that he wants to be 'Just Harry' and not 'Harry-Potter-the-Boy-Who-Lived' or some other ridiculous title."

"I think that he is good looking," said Hermione shyly, in the type of girl-talk that she'd never let a boy hear.

"So do I," agreed Ginny. They said good night to each other a little while later, and went up to bed.

\\\/

The next morning at 7:30, Ginny woke up and dressed in borrowed clothes from Hermione. One of the older girls had to adjust the clothes slightly, as Hermione was a little more developed than she was.

She, Hermione, Harry, and Ron met in the Common Room and went down to the Great Hall for breakfast. After they found a spot at the table and started to fill their plates, McGonagall came over.

"Mr Potter, Ms Weasley. You are going with me to Diagon Alley today. Meet me at the Entrance Hall at 9:00. Potter, bring your Bank Key. And both of you, it's going to be a bit of a walk."

"Are we walking there, Professor?" asked Harry.

"Don't be stupid," said McGonagall. "Diagon Alley is in England. Despite its reputation as an English school, Hogwarts is in Scotland. Be ready at 9:00."

She walked away.

At nine o'clock, the two students met the Deputy Headmistress at the Entrance Hall. She led them out the doors and down a road.

"Are we going to Hogsmeade?" asked Ginny.

"You are correct."

About a fifteen to twenty minute walk later, they arrived at one of the grubbiest pubs Ginny had ever seen. There were goats in the back yard, and the sign proclaimed it to be "The Hog's Head."

McGonagall knocked, and a man that looked very much like the Headmaster opened the door.

"Albus told me you were coming, Professor," he said. "Who are these ruffians?"

"It's nice to see you again, Aberforth. Your pub looks just as clean as it did the last time I came here. And this is Ginny Weasley, a girl who managed to get on the train and Sorted without anyone realising this, and the boy is Harry Potter."

"Pleasure to meet you, Mr Potter," said the barman jovially as a goat walked out of the bar. "What is wrong with Miss Weasley?"

"I'm a year too young," replied Ginny. "But I got sorted, so I am now a student."

"Rule 56A and 64C?" asked the slightly younger Dumbledore, Aberforth.

Ginny was getting tired of hearing that same citation over and over again, so she just confirmed it with him.

"How are we getting there from here?" asked Harry.

"We're taking the Floo Network." said McGonagall.

"What's the Floo Network?" asked Harry.

"My word!" exclaimed McGonagall. "Who taught you about the Wizarding World? Didn't you get The Packet?"

"Hagrid took me to Diagon Alley and responded, 'I'm not the person you should ask' for a lot of my questions."

"Well, Mr Potter, let's just say that you got an inferior Visit." said McGonagall. "The Floo Network uses a system of Fireplaces. What you do is you throw Floo Powder into the fireplace and shout your destination, in this case, ‛Diagon Alley' Most of the time, you'll get to your destination if you speak clearly enough. Ms Weasley, why don't you go first, so that he knows how it is done."

Aberforth took them over to the fireplace, and Ginny took a handful of Floo powder, and tossed it into the fire, saying, "Diagon Alley!"

As she was navigating the Network, Ginny thought it was quite strange to be coming from the direction of Hogwarts instead of the Burrow. Eventually, she made it to Diagon Alley. When Harry came through a couple seconds later, he said, "I'm not sure that I like that."

"Merlin's Beard!" said the barman, Tom. McGonagall rushed over to the bar shoving her wand in his face.

"Do not go shouting about who just came through, Tom, or I'll hex you to Winnipeg and transfigure you into a rabbit." threatened Professor McGonagall. Ginny could tell from the stories, that McGonagall was about to get angry, as her Scottish accent was becoming more and more pronounced. "Mr Potter would like his privacy and he is most certainly not some type of animal to be gawked at in a zoo."

The near-Squib bartender just nodded, saying, "Yes, ma'am!" as the group left the bar to go to the Alley.

Naturally, their first stop was Gringotts, so Harry politely asked the Teller to be taken to his vault. The Goblin was pleased, but surprised. When the cart-driver (by the name of Skullcrusher) got to Harry's vault, she noticed a couple of things. First, it was right above the Dragon level, where families like the Lestrange's had their vaults. Second, his vault was huge. Third, not only was the vault huge, but it was filled with large amounts of money and other objects. The other objects looked to be very valuable.

_Whomever catches his eye is going to be a lucky woman, _thought Ginny. _A good heart, the unbelievable hotness, and the huge vault of cash. I hope that it's me and/or Hermione._ She knew of a couple good loop-holes in the Laws that could apply to her and Hermione if they _ever _had the inkling to do so.

They did their shopping, and Ginny received a late birthday present from Harry (McGonagall having told him Ginny's birthday in confidence) —an owl. The family owl wasn't the most reliable, and often flew into windows or simply collapsed on Delivery.

Just before they went to get her wand, Harry bought them all ice-creams at Florean's shop. Harry was so happy to buy things for a friend, that he almost forgot to buy _himself_ ice-cream. It was the best ice-cream that Ginny ever tasted.

Finally, they went to Ollivander's, where Ginny got her first wand—8.5 inches Holly with a unicorn tail hair. Then, they took the Floo back to Hogwarts.


	4. The Hogwarts Potions Master

One Missed Traffic Light

a continuation of "One Traffic Light" by witowsmp

This story is not written with that writers permission, nor the permission of J.K. Rowling, Scholastic, Bloomsbury, etc. who own the rights to _Harry Potter. _

"One Traffic Light" by witowsmp may be found at s/7058158/1/One-Traffic-Light on fanfiction. (After / paste/type the s etc)

Chapter 4, The Hogwarts Potion Master

_Finally, they went to Ollivander's, where Ginny got her first wand and took the Floo back to Hogwarts. _

The next day, Ginny and Harry went to their first class with their new friend Hermione Granger. Harry had done a complete 180 on Ron, as Ron was acting like someone who wanted Harry's fame for himself, so the Harry-Ginny-Hermione Trio ignored him.

Most of the classes were amazing, like in Transfiguration, where McGonagall turned into her Animagus form, and threatened to turn Ron and Seamus into a map and a watch, respectively (they had been late for class). In her classroom, she was very strict, and did not seem the type of teacher to cross. Immediately after the lesson started, she gave them a warning about the dangers of Transfiguration. _It's not just her personality that's strict,_ thought Ginny. _She's strict because this is _

Another of the really great teachers was Professor Flitwick, who had been a Duelling Champion in the 40s. Ginny thought that it would be easy for him to be a champion because of his size. Ginny thought that he had some Goblin blood in him. He promised to teach them many interesting and important things, but unfortunately, there was a whole bit of theory first. They would be learning how to levitate objects by Halloween, he promised.

Unfortunately, there were classes that weren't as good. For example Professor Binns. Binns was a ghost, who simply kept coming to work after his body died. He kept droning on about Goblin Rebellions and getting student's names wrong.

The disappointing class was Defence Against the Dark Arts, taught by Professor Quirrell. He turned out to be a joke, and his classroom smelt of garlic which, rumour had it, was to ward off a certain Romanian vampire he'd met.

On Friday, Harry received a letter from his first-ever friend, Hagrid. It was written in a very rough script.

_Harry and Friends,_

_I know that you have afternoons on Friday free. Would you like to have a cup of tea with me around three? I'd love to hear about your first week. Send your reply with Hedwig, I think that she's bored. Bring Weasley and your other friend, too, if you want._

_Hagrid_

Harry immediately sent a reply saying that they'd be glad to come, as the girls had been reading the letter over his shoulder. Right then, Ron was looking at his timetable for the day.

"We've double Potions with the Slytherins! Snape's head of Slytherin House. Everyone says that he favours them."

Muttering to Ginny and Hermione, Harry said, "I wish McGonagall favoured us."

\\\/

Out of all the classes they'd had so far, Potions turned out to be the worst one. It was clear almost as soon as the bell rang, that Snape didn't dislike Harry and Ginny. He _hated _them.

He started class by taking roll. When he got to Harry's name, he said, "Harry Potter. Our new celebrity."

He was no better when he got to Ginny's name. "Ginevra Weasley, the Girl-Who-Shouldn't-Be-Here, the Sneak."

These proclamations were met by a round of laughter from the spawn of a Sworn Enemy of the Weasley—Draco Malfoy and two sidekicks. Ginny knew that the two sidekicks were Crabbe and Goyle, but she didn't know which was which. She had a feeling that _they _might not know who was who—they seemed to be very dim.

Ginny looked into Snape's eyes as he put away the Class List. They were black like coals, but had no warmth in them whatsoever. She looked away when she felt a nudging in the front of her skull. Snape decided to start the class off with a lecture. It was a lecture that Ginny would not soon forget.

"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making," he began. He had a voice that carried quite well, even if it was just barely above a whisper. "There will be no foolish wand-waving or silly incantations in this class, so many of you will hardly believe that this is magic. I don't expect that you will understand the beauty of a simmering cauldron and its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through the human veins, bewitching the mind and ensnaring the senses."

He paused for the briefest of moments before continuing on. "I can teach you how to bottle fame" (he looked at Harry) "brew glory and even put a stopper in death. That is, as long as you aren't the usual level of dunderheads that I usually am forced to teach."

He turned suddenly to Harry. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

Harry looked as though he didn't know the answer.

"No clue? Let's see if the Sneak knows any better." Snape turned to Ginny. "What is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?" (1)

Ginny knew that the answer was right on the top of her tongue, but right as she was about to open her mouth, Snape replied, "Tut, tut. Clearly, you shouldn't be here after all!"

Turning back to Harry, Snape questioned, "Potter! What is the most powerful love potion in existence?"

Ginny knew this one. One look over at Hermione, and Ginny knew that she knew it as well. It was _Amortentia._ Unfortunately, it wasn't hers or Hermione's opportunity to respond.

"Clearly fame isn't everything, is it Mr Potter?" asked Snape. "15 points from Gryffindor for not opening a single one of your books. To answer my questions, adding a powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood creates the base for one of the most powerful Sleeping Potions known to man, known as the _Draught of Living Death. _Wolfsbane and monkshood are the same plant, which also goes by aconite. The most powerful love potion is Amortentia_. Why are you not copying this down?"_

He then set them their potion for the day. Ginny got paired up with Hermione, who was quite good. About halfway through brewing the potion, Snape was praising the perfect way that Malfoy was brewing his potion (which incidentally was the wrong colour), whilst criticising everyone else, even though Ginny's and Hermione's potion were as good or better than Malfoy.

Just then, Ginny heard something from Neville's cauldron as it melted, causing his potion to leak onto the floor. Everyone got up on their stools so as not to get burnt. Neville, who had taken the brunt of the meltdown, was moaning in pain. Snape ordered Seamus Finnegan, an Irish Gryffindor, to take Neville to the Hospital. He then took five more points from Gryffindor from Harry, for "failing to stop Longbottom."

\\\/

A couple of minutes before three, Hermione, Ginny and Harry started down to Hagrid's hut. Ginny certainly wouldn't call it much of a house. When Harry knocked on the door, Ginny heard a loud booming bark from inside.

"_Get Back, _Fang!" shouted a voice from inside. Ginny could hear the scratching of nails on the wooden floor of the house, as if "Fang" were resisting all attempts to move him. A minute later, Hagrid opened up the door. "Come in! Come in!" he said in a booming voice with a West Country accent. She didn't know that's what it was called, but she liked it. _It gives Hagrid character,_ she thought.

"Which Weasley are you?" asked Hagrid. "Spent the last couple of years chasing your brothers away from the forest."

"I'm Ginny Weasley" she responded. She pointed at Hermione. "And this is one of my best friends, Hermione Granger."

Hagrid turned to Hermione, stuck his hand out, and nearly took it out of its circuit shaking it. "Nice to meet you," he said to Hermione before turning back to Ginny. "Ain't you a bit young?"

A/N: I think that the original of this piece (cited above) is so much better written, and of course, I can't write like "Good Ol' J. K.!" (quote from _The Shakespeare Code_, Doctor Who)


	5. Flying at Hogwarts

One Missed Traffic Light

a continuation of "One Traffic Light" by witowsmp

This story is not written with that writers permission, nor the permission of J.K. Rowling, Scholastic, Bloomsbury, etc. who own the rights to _Harry Potter. _

"One Traffic Light" by witowsmp may be found at s/7058158/1/One-Traffic-Light on fanfiction. (After / paste/type the s etc)

Chapter 5, Flying at Hogwarts

A couple of days after they met Hagrid, a notice was pinned on the board in the Common Room. On Thursday, there would be flying lessons. Ginny and Harry were both excited about this, until they saw which house would be accompanying them—the Slytherins.

Ginny had learnt how to fly when she was five, but most of her brothers didn't know that—Charlie had taught her, but the other brothers thought that Quidditch was too rough for a girl (despite having a number of girls on the house team).

Behind their backs, she and Charlie had practised Seeking, finding and catching the Golden Snitch (Charlie was up by five). Her family's brooms weren't the best, as their newest one was a Comet 260, which was woefully out of date.

Ron and Malfoy were both being very rude to the Trio. Malfoy was always boasting of his exploits on brooms. Ron was plain jealous, shooting them dark looks, and mentioning to Seamus that Ginny shouldn't even be at Hogwarts, and that Harry Potter was starting his own dark harem.

On the day of the flying lesson, the Gryffindors went down to the field. The Slytherins were already there. There were brooms on the ground—Comet 50s, and the bristles on most of the brooms weren't straight.

"Eyeing up a broom to take home, Weasley?" called the unpleasant voice of Draco Malfoy. "I expect that you could outfit your whole brood with these for cheap. A museum on the other hand, would pay about 10 sickles each for these. Isn't that more than your Father makes in a week?"

Madame Hooch came strolling over before Malfoy's insults could go any further or before a Weasley could retaliate. "Hello, class!" she said. "Now everybody walk up to the side of a broom and say 'UP!'"

\\\/

A while later, Ginny saw Harry on his way to dinner. He and Hermione were talking.

"According to _Hogwarts, A History_, it's almost unheard of," Hermione was saying.

"What's up?" Ginny asked Harry. "You didn't get expelled, did you?"

Harry lowered his voice to tell her. "No, McGonagall got a kid named Oliver Wood to put me on the Quidditch team."

"He's our Captain," said Ginny. "But you must be the youngest player in..."

"A century," Harry interrupted. "Wood said so. Just think though. If you make the team next year, then you can shatter my record by a couple of days. Have you heard anything about Neville? How's he doing?"

"I've heard that it's just a broken wrist," said Ginny. "I'm sure that Madam Pomfrey should be able to fix it up in no time whatsoever."

"Most likely, she's forcing him to rest to heal quicker" said Hermione. Ginny and Hermione looked at each other. That was more than weird. Before Ginny could think about it more, she heard an unpleasant voice.

"Are you eating your last meal before going back to your Muggles?" asked Malfoy.

\\\/

Malfoy had challenged Harry to a fight, and Harry had chosen Ginny as his second. The group were back in the Common Room trying to decide what to do.

"He's a Slytherin," said Ginny. "He probably doesn't plan to show. What should we do?"

"He probably plans to spring a trap that gets all of us in trouble," said Hermione. "Or something dangerous that will get us killed, or worse, expelled."

"What we have to do is find a way to reverse the trap," said Harry. "Malfoy's a Slytherin, yes. So how do you beat a Slytherin? You act like one."

\\\/

"You are saying that Mr Malfoy will be out of bed tonight?" asked McGonagall.

"He challenged us to a duel, midnight, at the Trophy Room." said Harry.

"Thinking like a Slytherin, we figure that in actuality, it's a trap so that we get in trouble," said Ginny.

"He does the exact thing we're doing, and sets Filch on us at midnight, which is quite obviously after curfew." said Ginny. "There shouldn't be any repercussions on the Family Honour, as both Contestants are too young to issue a challenge like that."

"Thank you for coming to me about this, and not doing anything stupid, like going after Mr Malfoy yourself." said McGonagall. "Five points will be given to Gryffindor for telling your Head of House about a potentially serious situation—the trophy room is near the 3rd floor. Also, Mr Potter, you are expected down at the Quidditch pitch 7 pm tomorrow night. Oliver wants to see you fly in person."

She got a magazine out of her desk. "Take a look through here, and buy yourself a nice broom."

She said this with the slightest hint of a smile.

\\\/

Malfoy and his friends were astonished to see the Trio at breakfast. They were further astounded that they looked as though they'd gotten a good night's sleep. "Where did I go wrong?" he asked his bodyguards.

They grunted in response.

\\\/

A couple of days later, in the middle of breakfast, a squadron of owls descended on the Great Hall. They were carrying identical packages. One of the owls flew to Ginny. The other flew to Harry. She saw a note on the outside of the package, written in typed script, like on the newspaper.

Ginny,

I'm paying by the word, so I'm keeping this brief. This is a new broom for the Weasley family. It is a gift, not charity. It is a new Nimbus 2000. Give this note to Gred and Forge, and they can take custody of the broom until our second year.

Harry

Ginny did as she was told, telling the owls to go to her twin brothers.

"Merlin's beard, Harry," said twin A, who at the moment Ginny thought was George.

"This must've cost 100 Galleons!" said 'Fred'.

"He cannot let Slytherin win," said Hermione. This was strange, because Harry had just been about to say that.

As they were walking out of the Great Hall, Malfoy came up to them. "Potter, you're in trouble now! First-years aren't allowed brooms."

A squeaky voice came from behind the two groups. "You aren't arguing, I hope?" asked the voice, which Ginny immediately identified as Professor Flitwick.

"Potter's got a broomstick, Professor," Malfoy said. Crabbe and Goyle grunted their agreement.

"Yes," said Flitwick. "The Headmaster and Deputy just told me about the special circumstances. What model is it, Potter?"

"A Nimbus 2000, sir." replied Harry.

"And it's really thanks to Malfoy here that he got it," continued Hermione.

Later on in the Common Room, the Trio were talking. "Something really weird is going on here" said Ginny.

"I know," said Hermione. "I'm not nearly as mad as I should be about what you did yesterday, _and _we are all finishing each other's sentences."

Harry and Hermione both looked at Ginny, wondering if she knew anything.

"I have no clue." replied Ginny. "Perhaps the Nurse can see."

A/N: I think that the original of this piece (cited above) is so much better written, and of course, I can't write like "Good Ol' J. K.!" (quote from _The Shakespeare Code_, Doctor Who)

I realise that the two rules that are oft-quoted in this piece would deny me most of my Manipulative!Dumbledore stories that I read (i.e. the ones where Harry goes to Azkaban and, once proven innocent), Dumbles _has _to make sure that Harry is at Hogwarts by any means necessary


	6. Halloween at Hogwarts

One Missed Traffic Light

a continuation of "One Traffic Light" by witowsmp

This story is not written with that writers permission, nor the permission of J. K. Rowling, Scholastic, Bloomsbury, etc. who own the rights to _Harry Potter. _

"One Traffic Light" by witowsmp may be found at s/7058158/1/One-Traffic-Light on fanfiction. (After / paste/type the s etc)

Chapter 6 Trolls at Hogwarts

They decided to go to the Hospital Wing to see why they could communicate mentally. The nurse waved her wand for a minute, looked at something, waved it again before looking at something else.

She summoned three pairs of glasses from the office. "Put these on: they'll let you seem some of the tendrils of magic. This isn't something that I've seen in a while."

When the three put on the glasses, they could see tendrils of magic connecting the three of them together.

"I'm not sure, as this exceeds my learning as a healer," said the Nurse. "But I think that you three are forming some type of bond. It's not dangerous."

\\\/

At seven, the Trio made their way down to the pitch, where Hermione would watch, and Ginny and Harry would train. They took off. Ginny could feel that this broom handled much better than any other broom she'd been on. Harry and Ginny were weaving through the goal posts and turning on a Sickle when they heard a voice say, "Oi! Potter, get down here. You, too, girl!"

"Hello, Mr Wood," said Harry politely. "How are you doing?"

"I am rather in shock, kid," said the Quidditch Captain. "You two can _fly!_ Call me Oliver." He paused for a moment before sizing up Harry's companion. "Red hair, excellent flying ability. Are you a Weasley?"

"I'm Ginny," she said.

"Brother's Charlie?" she nodded, and he continued. "He taught you well."

"He's only up by five out of one hundred," Ginny said proudly.

"You're the kid," said Oliver. "I'd really love to see what you can do in the air. Right now, I will put Potter in at Seeker, and you can fill in if he gets hurt, is that good?"

Wood reminded Ginny and Harry (mostly Harry) about the game of Quidditch, the balls, and the object of the game. After that, Wood started to throw Tennis balls in the air for them to catch.

"I like you, Weasley." said Wood. "I'm not just saying that. You're as good as your brother, and as good as _his _father," he pointed at Harry. "You're damned good. Harry will give us the better chances of winning. If he's injured, though, you're up, kid."

\\\/

As they were walking up to Gryffindor Tower, one of the staircases moved. When they got off the staircase, they saw a corridor with a long door at the end.

"Do you hear something, my sweet?" said a diabolical voice. It was the caretaker, Argus Filch, talking to his equally evil cat, Mrs Norris.

"Let's go through that door," suggested Harry, so the trio ran toward the door. But to their dismay, it wouldn't budge. It took him a couple of seconds before he remembered the unlocking charm. "_Alohomora!" _he said, and the door opened. Ginny almost wished that he hadn't, as there was a giant three-headed dog staring at them.

\\\/

Speeding up the hallway came Peeves.

"Peeves?" asked Filch. "You rotten poltergeist! Did you see some students? Which way did they go?"

"Say please!" sung the Poltergeist.

"Don't mess around with me Peeves! Which way did they go?"

"I shan't say nothing if you don't say please"

"All right" said Filch. "Please." he looked as though it really hurt him to say that. He looked even fouler when he heard Peeves' response.

"NOTHING!" said Peeves as Filch stormed off. "Said I wouldn't say 'Nothing' if you didn't say please!"

\\\/

As soon as they heard Filch leaving, the trio left their hiding place. Once they got back to the Common Room, Hermione asked the obvious question. "What is a three-headed dog doing in the middle of a corridor?"

Ginny came to a realisation. "That was the third floor, wasn't it. But that's not the big question. See, you're missing the big question."

"What's the big question?"

"Did you notice what it was standing on?"

Harry smacked himself in the face. "It was standing on a trapdoor. That means it must be guarding something."

"Now I'm going to bed," said Hermione. "Before anyone else gets any ideas."

"Ideas about what?" asked Harry.

"To get us killed," said Ginny.

"Or Worse, Expelled" finished Hermione, the pre-bond Hermione showing up again. The girls told Harry "Good Night," and they went to their dormitory as Harry went to his. Ginny's dreams that night revolved around what might be under that trapdoor.

\\\/

A couple weeks later, it was Halloween. During the day, they had classes, but there was a feast at dinnertime.

As promised, in Charms they were working on the levitation charm. As always, Flitwick went over theory, and tried to get the students to pronounce the words correctly. He then set them loose to try the spell.

Ron was having a hard time levitating his feather. Naturally, he was mispronouncing the incantation, and naturally, Hermione was trying to help him. This was just irritating Ron more. At the end of class, he lost his temper talking to Seamus and Dean.

"Honestly, she's a nightmare! It's no wonder no one can stand her."

Hermione ran off, crying, and Harry looked ready to punch Ronald.

\\\/

Hermione hadn't been seen in any classes since Charms, which obviously was unusual for her. Ginny then heard a rumour that Hermione was in one of the Second-floor bathrooms, crying because of Ron's comments. Just as Ginny noticed Harry help himself to a jacket potato, Quirrell came running into the Great Hall.

"TROLL! In the Dungeons!" he screamed. "Thought you might want to know." He then collapsed to the ground.

Dumbledore put a Sound-Amplifying charm on himself and bellowed, "SILENCE!"

"The prefects will lead the students to their dormitories," the Headmaster continued. "The teachers will go to the Dungeons."

Percy was in his element as he led the Gryffindors to the Common Room. Harry stopped Ron and Ginny for a minute part of the way up.

"Hermione! She doesn't know about the Troll!" Harry said. "Ginny, get Percy, and have him get McGonagall or someone. Ron, as the French say, _allons-y__!_ Let's go! This is your fault that she's in this situation anyway."

\\\/

"Ron, you have to stop your jealousy!" shouted Harry, as they ran toward the bathroom. "If you ever want to consider becoming friends with me, your sister, and Hermione, you'll have to apologise to all of us for the way you've been treating us."

"Harry?" asked Ron.

"There is something between Ginny, Hermione, and me," Harry said. "What would you do if it were someone _you _cared about being treated poorly?"

He said this right as a troll went in to the Ladies' on the second floor. Harry ran quicker than he'd ever run before.

\\\/

"Percy! Percy" yelled Ginny as she ran. She got to the Gryffindor Common Room and went in. She ran over to where Percy was sitting. "Percy!"

"What do you want?" asked Percy the Prefect. "That'll be twenty points from Gryffindor for not following orders exactly."

"Percy, Hermione is in the bathroom on the Second Floor. We need to get a teacher! Ron and Harry are trying to let her know about the troll." said Ginny really fast so Percy couldn't cut her off.

Percy touched the back of his Prefect's badge with his wand, and said, "Students in the Second Floor Corridor near the Ladies' bathroom. Three Students in the area. Request assistance." He then turned to Ginny, "I did my part. Thank you for telling an Authority figure."

"How did you do that?"

"The badge is a communicator pin," said her brother. "It's an experimental feature this year. The Headmaster apparently got the idea from some Muggle 'Television series' called _Star Trek._"

Percy wasn't a complete git, thought Ginny.

\\\/

A little while later, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were escorted to the Common Room by Professor McGonagall. When she saw the looks on everyone's faces, she knew that something happened. The Trio plus Ron went over to a secluded corner, where Harry explained that they had to save Hermione from a troll, and that Ron had been able to knock it out with its own club.

Next morning, Ron gave sincere apologies to the Trio.

"I'm really sorry at the way I treated you," he said to them. To Ginny, he added, "I'm sorry that I was so jealous. I mean, you're only ten, and you're possibly more powerful than I am."

"Did Harry tell you to do this?" asked Ginny.

"Yes, but not in the way you think." he said. Ginny just stood there, waiting for him to elaborate. "Harry told me to think about if someone was being mean to you, and I got to thinking that I really haven't been a nice brother since school started."

"Your apology is accepted, Ronald" said Ginny, earning her a couch cushion thrown at her.

A/N: I think that the original of this piece (cited above) is so much better written, and of course, I can't write like "Good Ol' J. K.!" (quote from _The Shakespeare Code_, Doctor Who)

I put a reference to the Doctor Who episode _Blink _in this chapter. As always, _Doctor Who _is copyright ©1963-2015, BBC, ©2005-2015 BBC Wales, etc.

The reason that Hermione still runs off is twofold. First, the bond is nowhere near full strength yet. Second, I needed Harry to have to deal with the troll in some way. That Percy wasn't a complete git was a bonus. If the bond were at full power, then the other two would be able to help control Hermione's emotions.

I realise that the two rules that are oft-quoted in this piece would deny me most of my Manipulative!Dumbledore stories that I read (i.e. the ones where Harry goes to Azkaban and, once proven innocent), Dumbles _has _to make sure that Harry is at Hogwarts by any means necessary


	7. A Hogwarts' Christmas

One Missed Traffic Light

a continuation of "One Traffic Light" by witowsmp

This story is not written with that writers permission, nor the permission of J. K. Rowling, Scholastic, Bloomsbury, etc. who own the rights to _Harry Potter. _

"One Traffic Light" by witowsmp may be found at s/7058158/1/One-Traffic-Light on fanfiction. (After / paste/type the s etc)

Chapter 7, A Hogwarts Christmas

It was November now, and with the start of that month brought the cold. Harry and Ginny were at Quidditch most nights, as the first game (against super-arch-rivals Slytherin) would be in a couple of weeks.

Ron was now partially part of the group. According to Hermione, he was more a 'probationary member' of the group, instead of a full-up member. Although Ron was completely useless at a lot of things, the two things he obsessed about were chess and Quidditch. OK, three things: food, chess, and Quidditch.

Most of Ron's non-schoolbooks were either comic books or Quidditch. Specifically, most of the books were written about his favourite club, The Chudley Cannons. Personally, Ron despised the idea of Ginny playing the sport, but lent the Trio _Quidditch Throughout the Ages, _a book considered to be one of the most comprehensive histories of the sport.

Ron had many advantages from being a member of their group. First, he had someone to talk Quidditch with (as Dean preferred football, and Seamus like the Harpies). Second, he had someone to beat at chess (although Harry was getting better). Third, the "Insufferable Know-it-all" that had forgiven Ron now helped with his homework. She never did any of it, but she gave useful suggestions.

Saturday was the day of the big game—Gryffindor versus Slytherin. Ginny would be watching from the stands. A couple of Gryffindors made a sign that said, "Potter for President" and Hermione did some complicated wand work to make the sign change colours. Ginny didn't understand the reference until Hermione told her that "President" was a Muggle term for "Minister".

Lee Jordan was commentating the match, and he was very biased to the Gryffindors. Every couple of minutes, McGonagall would have to shout "JORDAN" and attempt to take his microphone when he was rude.

Gryffindor was in the lead, and Ginny was beginning to relax when Harry's broom started to buck after being run into by his opposite number. Immediately, Hermione took Hagrid's binoculars, and looked for anyone with a clear line of sight. She soon found her answer.

"It's Snape," she said in disbelief, handing the binoculars to Ginny. Ginny pointed the binoculars in the same direction.

"It's either Quirrell or Snape," she corrected. "Although what I think that you are thinking is mad, this is probably our best shot."

Ron was trying to figure that sentence out when Hermione sneaked out and headed towards the Teacher's Section. Harry was having a hard time staying on his broom now, and Neville had closed his eyes.

"Come on, Hermione!" said Ginny.

Hermione finally made it to the Teacher's Section, where she sent flames at both Quirrell and Snape, just to make sure.

Harry was able to get back on his broom, and immediately dove. _What in Merlin's name is he doing? _Ginny thought. It was then that he landed, and made as if he was going to sick up. He coughed, and the Snitch fell out in his hands. The Stadium went wild. Marcus Flint, the captain of the Slytherin team, was trying to dispute the result, as the Snitch was more swallowed than caught. Flying Instructor and Referee Madam Hooch overruled the appeal, ruling that it was a fair catch.

\\\/

After a quick debrief, Harry and the others went down to Hagrid's hut. On their way down, they were discussing the game with him.

"It was Professor Snape," insisted Ron. "He was cursing Harry's broom."

"That's nonsense" responded Hagrid. "Why would Professor Snape do something like that?"

"I know a jinx when I see one, Hagrid," responded Hermione. "Quirrell and Snape were both staring at the broom, maintaining eye contact. Neither was blinking at all."

"We also think that someone let the Halloween Troll get in, so that person could get past the dog on the third floor."

"How do you know about Fluffy?" asked Hagrid.

\\\/

For a couple weeks after the Quidditch match, Malfoy consistently taunted Harry about how a wide-mouthed toad would be replacing him as Seeker, but as Malfoy realised that no-one was listening, as they were rather impressed by Harry's ability to stay on his broom, he switched to one of his old favourites—taunting Harry about his family.

More than once, Hermione had to stop Ginny from hexing Draco. Ginny knew that, even if she got detention before break, it would be served after the break.

Ever since the Quidditch game, the Trio had been very busy. Hagrid had let slip that the object on the third floor was the business of Dumbledore and someone called 'Nicholas Flamel.' Ginny had a feeling as though she'd heard the name before, she just couldn't remember where. The Trio was working full out to do all their homework and research Flamel.

Ron wasn't a very good helper.

\\\/

A few days before Christmas, the Weasleys received a note, written in fine lettering.

Children,

We are going to Romania to visit your brother Charlie. Unfortunately, it is too expensive to bring all of us.

We will send your Christmas presents. We hope that you spend some time with Harry during the Break, as from what I've heard, he doesn't seem to have the best home life. He seems like such a sweet boy.

Harry, if you are reading this, you are welcome to stay with us over Summer Break.

Happy Christmas,

Mum and Dad

Ginny was slightly disappointed that she wouldn't be able to see Charlie, her favourite brother, who'd left for Romania right after school the previous year. Hermione was leaving to spend time with her parents in London. Harry, of course was staying at Hogwarts, having no desire to spend more time with the Dursleys than needed.

The bond between the three had been growing slightly over the last couple months, and this would be a good test to see how far it worked: for most of the term, Hermione, Harry, and Ginny hadn't been more than a few metres from each other. Ron, though he knew the girls and Harry were close, had no idea of the bond between them.

By the time Christmas rolled around, Hagrid had placed gigantic Christmas trees in the Great Hall and the teachers were helping to decorate them. The grounds were snow-covered by Christmas Eve, so the Weasleys and Harry had a snowball fight on the grounds, that culminated in the Twins charming a snowball to constantly hit Quirrell's turban. Ginny laughed with the others, but there was something wrong with Quirrell and she knew it. So did Harry.

They still hadn't cleared him as a suspect in the broom hexing at the Quidditch game earlier that year. On the other hand, neither had they been able to clear Snape. Ron, who thought that Snape was an evil git, still thought that all evidence pointed to Snape being the one hexing the broomstick. Then again, he wasn't able to feel what Harry did about Quirrell.

On Christmas, there was a large pile of presents on Ginny's bed, which she took downstairs to open presents with her classmates.

She received a jumper and assorted candies from her parents, a book from Hermione (_Muggles, A History, _written by Joanne Kathleen, a Muggle-born), more candy from Harry and Ron, and something from the twins. She wasn't sure that she wanted to know what _they _gave her. Knowing them, it was booby-trapped or a prank of some sort.

She also received a necklace from Luna Lovegood, who was a witch her age that lived just over the hill. From what she'd heard, Luna lived with her father in a house shaped like a giant chess piece. Luna's mum had died in an accident the year before. The note enclosed with the necklace said that it was made out of Butterbeer caps, and that it would help to repel Nargles. _That is pure Luna, _thought Ginny fondly.

Harry came down a couple of minutes later, already having opened his presents. He wished her a Happy Christmas, and whispered into her ear, "I've got something to show you once Hermione gets back."

That day, they had an excellent feast in the afternoon. That evening, Harry, Ron, and Ginny were toasting things on the Gryffindor Common Room fire, while trying to think of ways to get Malfoy expelled or Snape fired. It was a right laugh, even if most of them wouldn't work.

\\\/

The next day, Harry came down to the Common Room extremely late and extremely tired. "I have something to show you lot," he said. "We can take a look tonight."

That night, Harry took her and Ron on a meandering path around the castle, until they came to a slightly open door. Behind the door was a large unused classroom with a large mirror inside.

Harry told them to come in and look at the mirror. Ginny noticed that on top of the mirror, there was writing. "_Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi."_

These words didn't make any sense to Ginny, so she thought about it for a minute. She realised that they were staring at a mirror, so perhaps the words were meant to be looked at as such.

Harry was telling Ron how he saw his parents and family in the mirror. Obviously, he meant his family excluding the Dursleys. Ron stood in front of the mirror.

"Do you see them?" asked Harry.

"I see myself as Quidditch Captain," responded Ron. "_Merlin's Beard!_ I'm Head Boy as well! Do you think this mirror tells the future?"

"Ronald, you stupid ass!" said Ginny. "This is the type of statement that alienated you until Halloween! Of course it doesn't show the future. Harry's family is dead."

Ginny stepped in front of the mirror. She saw Harry in dress robes, and her and Hermione in white dresses in front of an audience. There was a ministry official—no, now that she looked properly, it was Dumbledore. Ginny saw that her mother was crying her eyes out, along with a mini-Hermione, sitting right next to her in the lap of an older version of Hermione. Ginny supposed that this was Hermione's mum and sister.

It was a happy scene; there were no threats from Death Eaters or You-Know-Who...Voldemort, no threats from Voldemort. Ginny was trying to use the name, because Harry had just pointed out the other day that 'Fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself.'

"You idiots" Ginny told the boys. "If you read the words backwards, it say _I show not your face but your heart's desire._ This is obviously a mirror that shows the deepest desire of your hearts."

Through their bond, she showed Harry and attempted to show Hermione what she saw in the mirror. A blush came over his face, and they left the room, not wanting to be caught going somewhere they shouldn't.

"I really don't think that you should go back, Harry," said Ginny. "I've heard stories of similar objects—wizards have gone mad in front of such things not knowing whether the mirror shows Truth or Fantasy."

Next morning, Harry received a note.

_The mirror will be moved to a safer location today. I'd appreciate if you didn't go looking for it._

_Headmaster Dumbledore_

A/N: I think that the original of this piece (cited above) is so much better written, and of course, I can't write like "Good Ol' J. K.!" (quote from _The Shakespeare Code_, Doctor Who)

Speaking of J. K. did anyone see my reference to the author within the story?

The _Blink _reference in the last chapter was in the "Big Question" lines

Also, in Chapter 3, I have added to the _Harry Potter _books that Ginny has/had, most of which reference in some way the books in the real world

I am attempting to have a "Theme" naming for each of the chapters in this book (they all include the word "Hogwarts" in the chapter title).

The reason that Hermione still runs off is twofold. First, the bond is nowhere near full strength yet. Second, I needed Harry to have to deal with the troll in some way. That Percy wasn't a complete git was a bonus. If the bond were at full power, then the other two would be able to help control Hermione's emotions.

I realise that the two rules that are oft-quoted in this piece would deny me most of my Manipulative!Dumbledore stories that I read (i.e. the ones where Harry goes to Azkaban and, once proven innocent), Dumbles _has _to make sure that Harry is at Hogwarts by any means necessary


	8. Dragons at Hogwarts

One Missed Traffic Light

a continuation of "One Traffic Light" by witowsmp

This story is not written with that writers permission, nor the permission of J. K. Rowling, Scholastic, Bloomsbury, etc. who own the rights to _Harry Potter. _

"One Traffic Light" by witowsmp may be found at s/7058158/1/One-Traffic-Light on fanfiction. (After / paste/type the s etc)

Chapter 8—Dragons at Hogwarts

Harry didn't try to find the Mirror again, Ginny noticed. He was very upbeat, though Ginny thought that might have been because of what she'd seen in the mirror.

When Hermione came back from Holiday, she was rather horrified that Harry had been out of bed, slightly embarrassed by the picture she'd received that same night, and slightly disappointed that no one had figured out who "Nicolas Flamel" was.

\\\/

Training for the next Quidditch match started quickly after Term began. After a practise where the Weasley Twins were messing around, Wood gave the team some bad news.

"Knock it off!" he yelled. "That type of stuff will lose us the game. I've just heard from Professor McGonagall. Snape is going to referee the next match, and will be looking for any opportunity to make us lose!"

"Snape's refereeing?" asked a twin. "Is that legal?" asked the other.

"He made it legal," said Wood.

\\\/

Ron could tell by the looks on their faces that something was wrong. "What's wrong?"

"Snape wants to referee the match against Hufflepuff," said Harry.

"That git will be looking for any opportunity to kill you, Harry," said Ron. "Say that you're ill."

"Pretend to break your leg," said Hermione.

"Really break your leg," said the moron of the group.

"I can't," said Harry. "Two reasons: 1, Everyone knows that Pomfrey would be able to fix something like that rather quickly, and 2, just in case Snape tries something, I don't want to put my backup, i.e. Ginny, in danger."

Ginny said, "Ron: you always think that Snape is up to something. Hermione, Harry and I aren't so sure. We think that _perhaps_ Snape might be trying to _save _Harry, and that Quirrell is the guilty party. Remember: they both were staring at Harry muttering something during the match. I think that Snape's actions during the game will prove whether he is guilty or not."

"I'm playing," said Harry, right as the Common Room door opened and Neville stumbled in, the victim of a Leg-Locking Curse.

As Hermione did the Counter-curse, Harry tried to convince Neville to tell him who did it. Eventually, it came out that Malfoy did it.

"You can't let him walk all over you, Neville" said Harry encouragingly. "You're worth twelve of Malfoy. He's a Slytherin, and you're a Gryffindor. Want a frog?"

"What?" asked Neville. He saw that Harry was holding a Chocolate Frog, and took it. "Do you want the card?" asked Neville.

As soon as Ginny took the card, she knew that she found Nicolas Flamel. The others huddled around her. She started to read the Card—it was a Dumbledore card.

"_Considered by many the greatest wizard of modern times, Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the Dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood, and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel. Professor Dumbledore enjoys chamber music and ten-pin bowling. _

Immediately, Hermione whispered, "I've got it!"

"It's on top of the bookshelf," said Ginny. She knew exactly which book Hermione wanted, as it weighed 20 kilos.

After a minute, Hermione came back holding the book. She turned it until she found the right page, and then started to read:

_The ancient study of alchemy is concerned with making the Philosopher's Stone, a legendary substance with astonishing powers. It will transform any metal into pure gold, and will also produce the Elixir of Life, which will make the drinker immortal._

_Although there have been unconfirmed reports of Philosopher's Stones over the centuries, the only confirmed known maker of a Philosopher's Stone is Nicolas Flamel, a noted alchemist and opera-lover, who currently resides with his wife Pernelle (658) in his home in Devon. Flamel is 665 years old._

"That must be what Fluffy is guarding!" exclaimed Hermione, but still in a low voice. "Fluffy is guarding the Philosopher's Stone!"

\\\/

Hermione, Ginny and Ron were on high alert on the day of the match against Hufflepuff. They all brought their wands to the game with them. They had just gotten to their seats, and the match had just started when a very unpleasant voice filtered over to them.

"You know how they choose people for the Gryffindor Quidditch team?" Malfoy was asking Goyle and Crabbe. "It's the people they feel sorry for. The Weasleys have no money, Potter doesn't have parents."

Crabbe and Goyle did a sort of grunting laugh. Draco noticed that Ginny, Ron and Hermione were sitting nearby, and banged into them.

"Sorry, Weasel. Didn't see you there. It's a wonder that Longbottom's not on the team—he doesn't have any brains."

"I'm worth twelve of you, Malfoy," responded Neville.

"And the witless wonder proves my point," said Draco right before Neville leapt at him.

\\\/

Although Harry caught the Snitch in under five minutes (a record, each side only scored once), he didn't return to the Common Room until a couple hours later. By that time, the party was already going strong.

"I have something to tell you," he whispered into Ginny's ear. He then motioned for Ron and Hermione to join them.

"I just heard a conversation between Quirrell and Snape in The Forest," said Harry. "It sounded like one of them was threatening the other."

"It was Snape," said Ron. "Snape has always wanted the Defence job, and figures that if one of them dies under mysterious circumstances, he might get the job."

\\\/

Hermione had looked at her calendar, and noticed that exams were only ten weeks away, so she was encouraging them (bullying them) to study.

"They're ten flipping weeks away for Merlin's sake!" said Ron.

"That's no time at all for Nicolas Flamel!" responded Hermione.

"Yeah, well I'm not 600 years old!"

They were in the library studying one day, when Ginny saw a very strange sight. Hagrid had managed to come into the Library. As the ceiling was only 12 feet tall, it was a close squeeze for him. He was rather evasive when they tried to say hello to him.

After he'd left, they looked at the books Hagrid had looked at. They were all about dragons. This worried Ginny.

"I hope that he knows that Dragons are illegal," she said. Harry gave her a look. She knew what he was about to say.

"He's always wanted one," he said. "I don't think that he cares if they're illegal or not."

They decided to pay him a visit.

\\\/

"Hagrid, we know that Dumbledore trusts you enough to tell you," said Ginny.

"Well, I do know that McGonagall did something, so did Sprout and Flitwick. Oh, yeah, Quirrell and Snape did something, too," said the giant. "O'course Dumbledore added in a bit o' something o' another, too."

"Hagrid, can we open the windows? It's like 35 degrees in here!" asked Ron.

"Can't, sorry," responded Hagrid as he went over to his fireplace.

Ginny noticed that there was a large kettle on the fire, and that the kettle contained a very illegal thing. There was a dragon egg in the kettle.

"Hagrid, where did you get that?" asked Ginny.

"I won it in a game of cards down at the pub," responded Hagrid.

\\\/

Later on in the Common Room, Ginny, et. al. were discussing the fact that Hagrid somehow got a dragon.

"We should really tell Dumbledore," said Hermione.

"But he'll get in trouble," said Ron.

"Dumbledore _likes _Hagrid, Ron," said Ginny. "And Dumbledore is the Head of the Wizengamot, and could easily deflect any charges against Hagrid. I'm with Hermione."

"I agree," said Harry. "With the girls. I think that the logical course of action is to go see Dumbledore."

"You'll do it alone, because I won't betray a friend like that," said Ron.

\\\/

A short time later, the Trio were at the Headmaster's Gargoyle. Remembering the password from earlier in the year, Ginny told it, "Jelly Baby". It moved aside to reveal the rotating staircase. Right as they were about to knock, the door opened.

"Please come in, Mr Potter, Ms Weasley, Ms Granger," said the Headmaster, who was sitting at his desk. "What can I do for you?"

As the Trio walked into the room and sat down, Dumbledore asked in a low voice, "Would you like a Jelly Baby?" He saw that there was a look of confusion on the faces of Ginny and Harry.

"It's from a TV program," explained Hermione. "A show called _Doctor Who_. The Fourth Doctor Who if I remember correctly."

"That is correct as always, Ms Granger." replied the Headmaster. "What do you need to talk to me about? Is it about the bond that I see forming between the three of you?"

"No, sir," said Harry. "Well, there is a Bond, but it's not what we're here to talk about."

"Hagrid has a dragon," blurted out the Trio.

"Oh, my" said the Headmaster.

\\\/

Pulling a couple strings, the Headmaster was able to contact Ginny's brother Charlie, who was a junior Dragon Handler at a preserve in Romania. Unfortunately, he and his friends wouldn't be able to make it for another week and a half.

Double unfortunate was the fact that it only took another week for the egg to hatch. One day, Hagrid sent a letter that said, _It's Hatching_, so after they finished Herbology, they went to see Hagrid.

The dragon was nearly out when they got there, and then minutes after they shut the door, it broke free of the shell and looked at Hagrid.

"Look at her! She knows her mummy!" said Hagrid. "Who's a cute dragon? Huh? Who's my cute Norberta?" He said this as if he were talking to a puppy.

Speaking of puppies, Fang seemed to be annoyed that this animal was in his house. Fang seemed to be especially annoyed that his Human was petting another animal instead of him. Fang recognised the Little-Humans, and decided to put his head in the lap of one of the females, who immediately started to pet him.

_Thursday can't come soon enough, _thought Ginny as they walked back up to the castle before dinner that night.

\\\/

Thursday had perfect weather. Charlie was coming early to see his siblings, and his friends would be over that night.

When Ginny saw Charlie walking in to the school, she ran over to him yelling, "Charlie!" and hugged her favourite brother.

"How you doing, Gin?" the man asked as Ginny continued to hug him.

When she finally pried herself off, she introduced her friends. "Charlie, these are my friends, Harry Potter and Hermione Granger."

He shook their hands, before repeating his question, "How are you doing?"

"I'm good," she replied.

"Now what's this about getting in to Hogwarts a year early?" said Charlie. "Is my sister a bit more devious than I previously thought?"

A/N: I think that the original of this piece (cited above) is so much better written, and of course, I can't write like "Good Ol' J. K.!" (quote from _The Shakespeare Code_, Doctor Who)

5000th word was in chapter four "their" as in "their new friend"

7500th word was in chapter six "put" as in "When the three put on the glasses..."

10000th word was in chapter seven "did" as in "So did Harry [suspect Quirrell]"

12500th word was in chapter eight "and" as in "and his friends would be over that night"


	9. Trap Doors of Hogwarts

One Missed Traffic Light

a continuation of "One Traffic Light" by witowsmp

This story is not written with that writers permission, nor the permission of J. K. Rowling, Scholastic, Bloomsbury, etc. who own the rights to _Harry Potter. _

"One Traffic Light" by witowsmp may be found at s/7058158/1/One-Traffic-Light on fanfiction. (After / paste/type the s etc)

Chapter 9—Detentions and The Trap Doors of Hogwarts

The Trio hung around Charlie all day, and all of his senses were telling him that there was something going on between the three of them.

_I hope to Merlin that they haven't _done_ anything yet, _thought Charlie. _I will most definitely have to let Mum know about this the next time we're on the Floo._

Soon, though, the day was over, and Charlie's friends arrived to get rid of the dragon, which Hagrid named "Norberta". He of course justified this by saying, "she has to have a name, right?". The Handlers and Hagrid managed to get the dragon into a large box, nailed her in, and took off.

Part of the week delay was for Charlie and Friends to get the proper permits not only to export the illegal dragon out of England, but to import a perfectly legal dragon into Romania. The laws allowed Dragon preserves and things of a similar nature in Romania.

So, Charlie and his friends wouldn't be bothered by any of the British Aurors, so long as they kept the animal Disillusioned. Invisibility Cloaks were notoriously bad on brooms, as they had the habit of falling off.

Speaking of Invisibility Cloaks, Harry had shown the girls his Cloak right after the Christmas holidays ended, and Hermione was amazed. Ginny was amazed, too, because Cloaks were so expensive. Also, this had to be a higher quality one since it had been Harry's father's Invisibility Cloak and it still worked.

She was still trying to figure out the handwriting on the note. She knew that she'd seen it before.

\\\/

Exams were drawing quite close now; even Ron was studying every once in a while. They were at the library quite often revising for exams.

One night, coming back from the Library right before curfew, Ginny felt a spell hit her, and she lost consciousness.

She was awoken by Hermione later, and found Harry exchanging spells with Malfoy and his goons. Then, Professor McGonagall came down the hall and shouted, "Stop!" as Malfoy got off one last spell, which Harry managed to dodge.

McGonagall, dressed in a tartan dressing gown, was in a right state. "Nothing gives the student the right to be out at night! Three Gryffindors breaking curfew in one night. That will be 50 points from Gryffindor. Each. The Slytherins were fighting, so that's another 75 points and a detention to all of you. Get to bed, now. I will notify you of your detention later."

\\\/

A week later, Ginny, Hermione, and Harry all received identical messages. Ginny's read:

_Miss Weasley,_

_Meet Mr Filch in the Main Entrance at 23:00 tonight for your detention._

_Professor Minerva McGonagall_

_\_\/

That night at 11:00, the Trio and Draco met in the Entrance Hall, where Filch was waiting. Somehow, McGonagall hadn't managed to see Draco's goons that night, so Slytherin neither lost points nor did Crabbe and Goyle receive detention.

"It's a pity that they let the old punishments die out," Filch was saying as they walked across the grounds in the direction of Hagrid's house. "Boy, will I miss the screaming."

Filch's recollections continued all of the way to Hagrid's hut, right next to the Forest. Ginny was rather glad that Dumbledore had gotten rid of the Old Punishments.

"Have you been lecturing them, Filch?" asked Hagrid. He had a crossbow in one of his hands, and Fang was behind him.

"What's it matter to you?" replied Filch, just as nastily. "Gotta keep your wits about you! You're going into the Forest."

"Into the Forest?" asked Malfoy. Ginny was pleased to see the terrified look on his face. "I thought that was a joke!"

They walked into the Forest. Soon, Hagrid came across a silvery substance.

"You know what this is?" he asked. No-one answered so he said, "This here is Unicorn Blood. Something has been huntin' them, and we have an injured one. Harry and Ginny, you'll be with me. I'm sorry, Hermione, but you'll have to go with Malfoy here."

"OK, then I get Fang," said Malfoy forcefully.

"All right, then," said Hagrid. "But I got to warn you. He's a right coward."

\\\/

"You mean, You-Know-Who was in the Forest?" asked Ron the next day when they were discussing the Detention.

"Yes, but he's weak," replied Harry. "Right now, he's relying on Unicorn Blood to sustain him."

"Unicorn _blood?_" asked the moron.

"Yes, it will keep you alive even if you are seconds away from death, but from the moment it touches your lips, it'll be a cursed life," said Harry, who'd learnt a bit about it from one of the Centaurs.

"Why would a person want that?" asked Ron.

"If you needed to bide your time until you can get something better," Hermione replied in a voice that sounded like she was stating the obvious.

Ron looked as if he'd come to a realisation. This look was so often not on his face, it was quite odd to actually see it. "Snape doesn't want the Stone for himself," he said. "He wants it for You-Know-Who!"

"Say the name, Ron. Fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself." said Harry.

"Well, he deserves a lot of fearing!" muttered Ron, right as Hermione pointed out, "We have no proof that it is Snape. Even though he's nasty to us, I still learn a lot from him."

"Ron, he's nasty, but I don't think that he's that nasty," finished Ginny.

Ron muttered something under his breath that included the words "Bloody git," "Greasy-haired bat," and other language that Ginny was sure that he wouldn't use in front of Mum.

In unison, the girls said, "Language, Ron!"

\\\/

Harry said to his girls later, that he wasn't sure how he passed his exams that year. First, there was the stress of the exams, and second, there was the worry that Voldemort might come storming through the door any moment.

He also confessed that he'd started thinking of Ginny and Hermione as His Girls, a possessive version of what he had been feeling before.

The exams were quite challenging for a first-year in Ginny's opinion. Fortunately, all of it was material that Hermione had pounded into their heads.

There was a sense of fun coming across the Bond—Ginny was sure that was coming from Hermione. Part of the Transfiguration Exam was to transfigure a mouse into a snuff-box, with points given for how pretty the box was, and taken away if it still had whiskers.

For Flitwick, they had to make a pineapple tap-dance, and for Snape, they had to remember how to make a Forgetfulness Potion.

After their last exam, as the three of them were relaxing on the grounds, Harry thought of something. "We have to see Hagrid now!"

"What?" asked Ginny and Hermione.

"Why didn't I see it before? I mean, how many people carry dragon eggs in their pockets? They're illegal, here!"

They rushed off to see Hagrid. "Hagrid, the man you won the egg from in the pub. What did he look like?"

"I dunno. He kept his hood up. It's not that unusual at that place."

"You must've talked?" prompted Hermione.

"Oh, yeah. He needed to know that I could take care of a dragon—I can't remember all of what happened, cause he kept buying me drinks. I said, 'The trick with any beast is to know how to calm it.' Take Fluffy for example, all's you need to do is play him a bit of music and he falls straight to sleep."

"Did you tell that to the man at the pub?" asked Ginny, hoping that he hadn't given away how to get past that beast of a dog.

"I don't remember—like I said, he kept buying me drinks," said Hagrid. "Now that I think of it, yeah, I probably told him."

"Thanks for telling us this, Hagrid," said Harry as they ran off.

"Don't you want any tea?" called Hagrid as they ran towards the school.

\\\/

"We have to let someone know," said Hermione, so the three went up to Dumbledore's office. The problem was that he wasn't answering his door. Their next choice was Professor McGonagall.

"What are you doing inside on a day like this?" she asked.

"Ma'am!" they said as they skidded into the room. "We think that someone is trying to steal the Philosopher's Stone!"

"I don't know how you know about the Philosopher's Stone," McGonagall said sternly. "But I assure you, it is too well protected."

As they were walking to the Common Room, Harry said, "We go tonight. Dumbledore's not here to protect it."

That night, Hermione, Ginny, Ron and Harry waited for everyone else to go to bed, and Harry got the cloak, Hermione had to _Petrificus Totalus _Neville for trying to stop them leaving, and they met Peeves in the hallway. Harry had to pretend to be the Bloody Baron to get past.

Soon, they were at the third floor. Harry pulled out the flute Hagrid gave him for Christmas, but when they opened Fluffy's Chamber, he was already asleep.

"He's already asleep," said Ron. Ginny looked around.

"There's a harp that someone enchanted to play," pointed out Ginny. "It's making music, so the dog is sleeping."

They pushed Fluffy's paw off the trapdoor and then, seeing no way down, Ginny jumped. Just as she was jumping the music stopped.

"It seems a bit quiet in here," said Ron, right as a huge eye opened in front of him.

"JUMP!" said Harry, and everyone fell through the hole.

"It's lucky that there's a plant thing here to break the fall," said Ron.

Ginny and Hermione, even without the use of the bond, immediately could tell what the 'Plant Thing' was. "It's Devil's Snare!" called Ginny. "Don't resist. Resistance is futile. If you resist, it'll only kill you faster."

"Oh, I can relax now!" said Ron as he continued to struggle with the plant.

"Shut up!" shouted Hermione, who was quickly losing her cool. "I'm trying to remember how to kill it."

"It likes the dark and the damp," replied Harry.

"So light a fire!" suggested Ginny.

"There's no wood!" said Hermione, losing her head in a crisis.

"ARE YOU A WITCH OR NOT?" bellowed the others. Hermione took out her wand and set fire to the plant, which released them.

As they walked into the next room, Ron was muttering, "There's no wood." They walked into the next room to find two brooms and a bunch of shiny birds.

When Ginny looked at the 'birds' closer, she could tell that they weren't birds. They were keys.

"I think that we have to find the right key for the door," she instructed the others. "It'll match the door."

Harry spotted it first. "That one," he yelled pointing. "Now all we have to do is catch it."

"You two are the best Seekers in Hogwarts," said Hermione as Harry and Ginny mounted the brooms to get the key.

\\\/

After they caught the right key and jammed it into the keyhole, they entered a room that at first looked like a cemetery.

"I don't like this," muttered Harry.

The lights came up, and Ron pointed out what it was, "It's a chess board," he said.

Harry and the Girls allowed Ron his ego trip and allowed him to control the game. At various points in the game, Ron would personally capture an enemy piece that was threatening the Girls and Harry.

"I have to sacrifice myself," said Ron. "It'll be the quickest way. Harry, you'll go to that space over there, and it'll be checkmate."

"You can't do that Ron!"

"Do you want to stop Snape, or what?" asked Ron as he made his way to the spot on the board. "Check" he announced.

The opposition Queen turned towards him and started gliding across the board. She then stabbed Ron's horse, and he fell to the ground unconscious. Harry made his move, and announced, "Checkmate." The White King dropped its sword in a gesture of surrender.

\\\/

The next room seemed to contain a dead Hermione. Ginny looked at the body, and then at the real Hermione. Ginny knew immediately what it was when it turned into a dead Harry.

"It's a boggart," said Ginny. "Think of something happy, and cast the spell—I think it's _Riddikulus_ or something like that."

They shouted the spell, and the boggart turned into a dead Voldemort. They were then able to force it to assume the shape of Molly Weasley's clothing on Voldemort, which made everyone laugh, defeating the boggart.

They went on to the next room and found a Mountain Troll, very much like the one that entered the school on Halloween, and had very nearly killed Hermione. Fortunately for them, this Mountain Troll didn't seem to be moving.

"Is it dead?" asked Hermione.

"I think so," said Harry. "Let's go on."

They walked into a room, and flames sprouted on both sides of them. There was a riddle on the table. They quickly figured out the riddle, and found the correct potions. The bottle to go back had just enough liquid for two people.

The bottle to go forward had only enough for one person.

"You two go back and get Ron," said Harry. "Take him to hospital and get Dumbledore here. Quick. If He is in there, I don't know how long I'll be able to hold Him off."

"You're a great wizard Harry," said Hermione.

"I'm not as good as you" said Harry.

"You know that you are" she replied. "But with me, it's all books and cleverness. There are much more important things like friendship and bravery. If you die, then I will go to Hell itself to get you!"

"Me, too" replied Ginny. "Be careful, Harry."

The girls took the potion as Harry went forward. They quickly got to the Chess Room, where Ron was still unconscious. They used a Hover Charm to move him, and were just entering the Devil's Snare room as Dumbledore was levitating himself down the tunnel.

"Harry's gone through, has he not?" asked Dumbledore frantically.

"Yes, sir." responded Hermione.

"Take him to the Hospital Wing," commanded the Headmaster. "I have to go save Harry."

They retrieved the brooms from the Key Room, and went to the hospital wing, where Madam Pomfrey insisted on checking all of them. A little while later, after Pomfrey had forced the Girls into beds for the night, Dumbledore brought Harry's body into the Hospital Wing.

"He's only unconscious," said the headmaster to reassure the Girls. "He used a lot of magical energy fighting of Voldemort, and by extension, Quirrell."

"So it was Quirrell?" asked Hermione.

"Yes. Unfortunately, Quirrell died when the Voldemort's spirit left him," said the Headmaster. He looked at Ginny. "I believe that _you _will be the youngest Seeker to ever play a match at Hogwarts, Ms Weasley. As the match has not been cancelled, and the regular Seeker is unavailable, Wood will be forced to use you in the game. I'd go to sleep if I were you. Harry will be all right. Good Luck."

_This speech was _so_ the Headmaster, _thought Ginny. Out loud, she said, "He's just brought our boyfriend in here, and he tells me I can play Quidditch tomorrow? He's nuts!"

"No," replied Hermione. "He's Dumbledore."

_\\\/_

The next morning, Pomfrey reluctantly told Hermione and Ginny that they could go to the game, and that Ginny could play. She always liked if her patients had at least a whole day to recover.

The day was perfect, though, in terms of weather. It was 25 degrees, sunny and clear. It was the best weather this season for a Quidditch match.

The match would be against Ravenclaw, who were known as the brainiest of the school, but not the best at Quidditch. Their teams, more often than not, would over-analyse and over-plan each game.

Due to the removal of their star Seeker, morale in the Gryffindor Locker Room wasn't the highest. Of course, having a Seeker as young as Ginny didn't help, either. Wood tried to stop them thinking that.

"We've lost Potter to injury" he said to the resounding boos of the team. "We're playing a first-year, who shouldn't even be at Hogwarts. But that's not stopping us—we are Gryffindors! She is as good a Seeker as her brother, and the late James Potter." There was a moment of silence after James Potter's name. "Let's give it our best and win the cup! Go GRYFFINDOR!"

By the time the Gryffindors took the field, Lee Jordan had already announced the starting line-ups for Ravenclaw. As each player flew out onto the field, he called their name.

"Here come the GRYFFINDORS! In Goal, your Captain, Oliver Wood! Beaters Fred and George Weasley! Chasers: Bell, Johnson, Spinnet! Your late substitution at Seeker, the youngest player ever, Seeker Ginny Weasley!"

"Bell gets the Quaffle, passes over to Spinnet, passes to Bell, who shoots...and She SCORES!"

Ginny tried to tune out the commentary, while at the same time keeping an eye on the score. Fortunately for her, the Gryffindors were scoring at an amazing pace. Ginny did a move that she'd just learned, a Wronski Feint, and heard a satisfying CRUNCH as the other Seeker failed to pull up in time.

Soon, the Gryffindors had scored 16 goals. Then, around ten minutes into the game, Ravenclaw finally got one past Wood. Then another. They scored five quick goals, and the score was now 160-50, meaning that Ginny needed to find the Snitch before the Ravenclaw Seeker (who, unfortunately, had recovered).

If Ravenclaw got the Snitch now, they would win the game 160-210. But then, Ginny saw the Snitch, and she dove, plucking it right out of the air in front of a very surprised Ravenclaw Keeper.

Immediately, the Ravenclaw Keeper got out of the way, as the Gryffindor Players started to mob Ginny in celebration. She looked around and saw Professor McGonagall's beaming face in the stands (one of the first times Ginny had ever seen a true and full-on smile on the woman's face). Even Percy was smiling in the stands (for him, it was a beaming smile, for anyone else, it was a slight smirk).

She and the other Gryffindors formed a line, so that they could shake the Ravenclaw's hands. Obviously, the Gryffindors would only ever do this for the Ravenclaws and the Hufflepuffs.

Dumbledore came down onto the field to award the Hogwarts Quidditch Cup. He handed it to Wood, who kissed it, and handed it to Ginny. She took a lap around the pitch and handed it off to her brothers.

Gryffindor had won the Quidditch Cup!

A/N: I think that the original of this piece (cited above) is so much better written, and of course, I can't write like "Good Ol' J. K.!" (quote from _The Shakespeare Code_, Doctor Who)

I realise that I use a lot of American terminology like 'Studying' when I think that the proper version is 'revising'. I apologise for that, and will attempt to use the right terminology.

25 degrees means 77 degrees Fahrenheit

If anyone would like to "Brit-pick" my stories, feel free to send me a message.

5000th word was in chapter four "their" as in "their new friend"

7500th word was in chapter six "put" as in "When the three put on the glasses..."

10000th word was in chapter seven "did" as in "So did Harry [suspect Quirrell]"

12500th word was in chapter eight "and" as in "and his friends would be over that night"

15000th word was in chapter nine "the" as in "went to the Hospital..."

(these word counts are the number of words with the chapter titles, but without the (sometimes extensive) Author's Notes


	10. End of a Year at Hogwarts

One Missed Traffic Light

a continuation of "One Traffic Light" by witowsmp

This story is not written with that writers permission, nor the permission of J. K. Rowling, Scholastic, Bloomsbury, etc. who own the rights to _Harry Potter. _

"One Traffic Light" by witowsmp may be found at s/7058158/1/One-Traffic-Light on fanfiction. (After / paste/type the s etc)

Chapter 10—End of a Year at Hogwarts

The party in the Gryffindor Common Room went on until McGonagall stormed in at one in the morning, telling everyone to go to bed or there'd be hell to pay. Ginny was glad of this, because she was quite tired at this point.

Something seemed to be drawing her to Harry's bed. When she got there, she saw his Cloak. She picked it up, put it in her bag, and went down to the Common Room, where she found Hermione.

As soon as there was enough of a distraction, Ginny and Hermione put on the Cloak and went up to the Hospital Wing to Harry's bedside. This is where Madam Pomfrey found them the next morning.

"Mind telling me what you are doing here?" she said. "Visiting hours were over hours ago."

"We just wanted to see Harry," said Ginny, giving the nurse a look that few could resist.

Pomfrey's glasses were charmed to see magic, like the glasses she'd let the Trio use earlier in the year. Instead of a small tentacle connecting the three, there now seemed to be a big-damned tentacle connecting the three, and not below the waist.

None of that could happen in sickbay, anyway. She had it charmed against all...physical manifestations of love.

Gifts from the other students had started to pour in for the Gryffindor Seeker: there were cards wishing him to get well soon; there was a 'die soon, you Mudblood-lover' card from Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle, which Pomfrey had quickly confiscated; there was candy of all shapes and sizes, including Chocolate Frogs, Bertie Bott's Every-Flavoured Beans, Treacle tart (that looked like it came from The Burrow), and a bag each of Jelly Babies and sherbet lemons (likely from the Headmaster).

\\\/

Around midday the day after the Quidditch match, there was a commotion outside the door after Pomfrey went to the door to let someone in.

"What is that?" she asked of the people outside the door. Ginny recognised the voices of the answerers immediately.

"We wanted" said Twin A.

"To Bring" said B.

"A Hogwarts Toilet Seat"

"To Harry as a joke" finished Twin B.

Ginny was nearly falling off the bed laughing at her brothers. Where did they get the idea of a 'toilet seat'?

"You are not bringing that in here under any circumstances," said Pomfrey. "That is completely unsanitary and unhygienic. The Headmaster will hear about this."

_The Headmaster will probably laugh his head off and deduct a certain number of points equal to the number of points he gives them._

\\\/

For two days, Ginny and Hermione remained in the Hospital Wing at Harry's bedside. The nurse was very understanding, given the bond between the three, and was even having food sent up.

On day number three, Harry woke up. The first thing that he noticed was a large mass of red on his chest, as someone was using it for a pillow. "Ginny?" he asked.

That was enough to wake Ginny up. She shook Hermione awake. "What?!" asked Hermione grumpily before noticing. "Harry! You're awake," she said, handing him his glasses.

"Apparently so," he said. "How long was I out?"

"Three days," said Ginny.

"You missed the Quidditch match," said Hermione. "Your replacement, however, did a decent job."

"Only a decent job?" groaned Harry. "How much is Wood going to kill me?"

"Let's just say that he might give me a promotion," said Ginny jokingly.

"You won?!" asked Harry. "Great job. Just don't take mine." He paused for a minute. "What's been going on?"

"We don't know much," said Hermione. "We only know until McGonagall broke up the Party in the Common Room."

"We've been sitting here for three days waiting for our boyfriend to wake up," said Ginny. "By the way, the twins attempted to send you a toilet seat at least once."

Harry finally caught up with the beginning of her sentence. "Boyfriend?" he asked.

"We've both claimed you as ours," said Hermione.

"We've claimed each other, too," said Ginny.

They talked for a while, even after Pomfrey came to check on Harry, and only left when the Headmaster told them that he needed to talk to Harry alone.

\\\/

"The Flamels are just going to die?" asked Ginny.

"According to Dumbledore, 'Death is but the next great adventure'." quoted Harry.

"That wizard's just a crazy old man," said Hermione, laughing at her own joke.

"That's from _Star Wars_, right?" asked Harry.

Hermione nodded, but both Ginny and Harry could tell that she was wondering how he knew that.

"I saw it once on a field trip to the cinema," replied Harry. "My aunt and uncle were more than a little displeased with the choice of movie. They were afraid that I'd follow someone on some type of damn fool idealistic crusade like my mother did."

Hermione laughed at his _Star Wars _reference, and made a mental note to introduce Ginny to television and cinema.

Harry would tell them a long time later that Uncle Vernon had actually forbade Harry ever going to the cinema again.

\\\/

The next day was the Leaving Feast. Harry had to fight hard to convince Pomfrey to let him go to the feast. He almost regretted that decision as he walked in to the Great Hall to find it decked in Slytherin green.

The Quidditch Cup win just hadn't been enough to redeem them in the House Cup Standings. The Slytherins had won with 562 points, Gryffindor had earned 363, Ravenclaw got 362, and Hufflepuff got 352.

Dumbledore interrupted the celebrations of the Slytherins. "Congratulations, Slytherin. However, there are certain events that need to be taken into account.

"First to Ronald Weasley for the best chess match this school has ever seen, I award Gryffindor 50 points."

Percy was heard saying, "My brother beat McGonagall's giant chess set."

"Second to Ms Hermione Granger, for cool use of logic under fire, I award 50 points"

Snape was managing to look both disgusted and impressed at the same time.

"Third, to Ms Ginevra Weasley, for being able to think critically in a crisis situation, I award 30 points. Fourth, to Mr Harry James Potter, for nerve and outstanding courage, I award 60 points.

"Finally, it takes a lot of courage to stand up to your enemies, but even more to stand up to your friends. I award Neville Longbottom 10 points."

Those who were able to do maths in their head realised at this point what the Headmaster was going to say next.

"If my calculations are correct, we need a change of decoration," he said as he clapped his hands, and the Green and Silver Snakes of Slytherin were replaced with Red and Gold Lions. Even the Hufflepuffs and the Ravenclaws were celebrating, as this was the first time in at least seven years that anyone other than Slytherin had won the Cup.

\\\/

Exams results were distributed the next day. The Trio had all done excellently on their exams, and Ron had done decently on his. Unfortunately, Malfoy and his goons somehow managed to get good enough grades to pass their classes.

Neville also did well, his excellent score in Herbology making up for his lousy score in Potions.

The administrators passed out the notifications that stated that pupils were not allowed to use magic during Holidays. The twins bemoaned this notice, and wished that they'd forget about the notice one year. Soon, they were on their way to King's Cross, London.

As they were getting off the train, Ginny said, "I'll owl every day" and Hermione told Harry that she'd send him messages through the Royal Mail.

"I love you girls," responded Harry.

\\\/

Almost as soon as they got off the train, they were met by Mrs Weasley.

"I'm sorry for how the year started, dear," she said to him. "How did your year go?"

"It went well, thank you," replied Harry. "Thank you for the jumper and the fudge. You have a very smart daughter, Mrs Weasley. She and Hermione kept me on track all year."

"That's good to hear," said Molly Weasley. "I'm glad that you enjoyed your gifts."

They walked to the Muggle side of the Platform, where Hermione spotted her parents. Molly was telling Harry, "now if you need anything, just write us a note. Dumbledore says that we can retrieve you on your birthday."

"Thanks, Mrs Weasley," said Harry.

Harry noticed Hermione's parents. Mrs Granger looked like an older version of Hermione, while her dad was tall, fit, blond hair, blue eyes, and looked like he'd played sports in his youth. Tough, muscle-building sports like rugby.

_So that's one of the Hermione lookalikes from the mirror. _Harry and Ginny both thought to themselves. _Where's the other?_ It was at this point that Ginny remembered that the mini-Hermione from the mirror had only been a couple years old.

Hermione was guiding her parents over to meet Harry and Ginny. Molly introduced herself, "Hello, I'm Molly Weasley. You must be Hermione's parents. Nice to meet you."

The Grangers nodded, and Hermione said, "This is my girlfriend Ginny, and my boyfriend Harry."

Ginny thought that the looks on the Grangers' faces were hilarious. To her, it looked like they were trying to figure out the meaning of the words their daughter had just used. They said goodbye, and left.

"Boy" came an unpleasant voice. The voice was attached to a large, beefy man with a large purple face, a large moustache, and hardly any neck. He looked to be a very unpleasant man.

"You must be Harry's family," Mrs Weasley said pleasantly.

"In a manner of speaking," said Vernon gruffly. "Come, boy."

Ginny resisted the urge to woof at that statement by Harry's uncle.

"Harry's Uncle!" shouted Mrs Weasley. Ginny could tell that he was very displeased with this honorific title. "I've invited Harry over after his birthday, if that's all right with you?"

Harry's uncle grunted. Ginny figured that meant 'yes' Her mum obviously thought so too, because she said, "Thank you. We'll pick Harry up at 16:00 on 31 July."

As Mrs Weasley led her family to the public Floo, she asked Ginny, "What did Hermione mean by that?"

A/N: **END of Book ONE**

I realise that I use a lot of American terminology like 'Studying' when I think that the proper version is 'revising'. I apologise for that, and will attempt to use the right terminology.

If anyone would like to "Brit-pick" my stories, feel free to send me a message.

5000th word was in chapter four "their" as in "their new friend"

7500th word was in chapter six "put" as in "When the three put on the glasses..."

10000th word was in chapter seven "did" as in "So did Harry [suspect Quirrell]"

12500th word was in chapter eight "and" as in "and his friends would be over that night"

15000th word was in chapter nine "the" as in "went to the Hospital..."

final count for the revised version of The Bonds of Friendship: Book I is 17,439 words

(these word counts are the number of words with the chapter titles, but without the (sometimes extensive) Author's Notes


End file.
